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Concept information

phenomenon > memory phenomenon > revelation effect

Preferred term

revelation effect  

Definition

  • A memory phenomenon characterized by a tendency to judge a stimulus as familiar or previously studied after completing a cognitive task, compared to a condition without such a task.

Broader concept

Related concepts

Scope note

  • The revelation effect has been observed in various judgments, including judgments of familiarity, old/new judgements, preference, confidence, and feeling-of-knowing, as well as evaluations concerning autobiographical memories, future events, or the probability that an event has occurred or will occur in the lives of close friends.

Belongs to group

Bibliographic citation(s)

  • • Aßfalg, A. (2017). Revelation effect. In R. Pohl (Ed.), Pohl, R. (Ed.). Intriguing phenomena in judgment, thinking, and memory (pp. 339–356). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315696935

    • Document type: literature review

    • Access: closed

  • • Aßfalg, A., Bernstein, D. M., & Hockley, W. (2017). The revelation effect: A meta-analytic test of hypotheses. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24(6), 1718–1741. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-017-1227-6

    • Document type: meta-analysis

    • Access: open

  • • Brandt, M., Aßfalg, A., Zaiser, A.-K., & Bernstein, D. M. (2020). A computational approach to the revelation effect. Journal of Memory and Language, 112, 104091. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2020.104091

    • Document type: empirical study

    , simulation study

    • Access: closed

    • Dataset reference: Brandt, M. (2019, March 30). A computational approach to the revelation effect. https://osf.io/khgd7/
  • • Greene, R. L. (2007). Foxes, hedgehogs, and mirror effect: The role of general principles in memory research. In J. S. Nairne (Ed.), The Foundations of Remembering: Essays in Honor of Henry L. Roediger, III (pp. 53–66). New York: Psychology Press.

    • Document type: literature review

    • Access: closed

  • • Watkins, M. J., & Peynircioglu, Z. F. (1990). The revelation effect: When disguising test items induces recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16(6), 1012–1020. https://doi.org/10.1037//0278-7393.16.6.1012

    • Document type: empirical study

    • Access: closed

Creator

  • Frank Arnould

Has study method(s)

Example

  • One way of testing for the revelation effect is as follows (Watkins and Peynircioglu, 1990). First, subjects memorize a list of words. Then, in the recognition test, some words are normally presented, without degradation. Other words are presented starting with their first two letters, then their first three letters and so on until their complete form. The results show that subjects recognize more often the words revealed to them gradually than the words normally presented, even when these words have never been studied (false recognition). Another word revelation procedure consists of asking participants to study a list of 80 words and then to recognize them among 160 words (Greene, 2007). In this recognition test, the words were presented in their usual form for subjects in the control group. For the subjects in the revelation group, the words were presented in the form of anagrams. They had to solve these anagrams and then decide whether or not they recognized the words. Subjects in the revelation group were better at recognizing the words being studied, but also committed more false recognition than subjects in the control group.

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URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/P66-DBTDMRDP-B

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